[Benjamin Franklin] | A document printed at Passy allowing American privateers to sell captured prizes in French ports

[Benjamin Franklin]

A French-language form relating to the regulation of 27 September 1778, authorizing the sale of prize ships captured by American Privateers, and taken to French ports. [Passy: Benjamin Franklin, September or October 1778]

Letterpress handbill form (310 x 200 mm). Unaccomplished, the laid paper with a Pro Patria watermark; a few minor, very pale spots, mostly in the lower margin, a bright and crisp example.

A rare French-language form printed by Benjamin Franklin on his press at Passy. This Revolutionary War–era document allowed congressionally authorized American privateers to record important information about a captured enemy ship prior to selling the boat and its valuable cargo.

On 27 September 1778, the French government and the United States Congress agreed to a regulation that formalized the legal framework for American privateers and French corsairs to bring their captured prizes, specifically ones taken from "les ennemis des Etats-Unis," into each other's ports. A captured enemy ship and its cargo could then legally be sold for profit. The agreement was further proof of the increasing levels of Franco-American cooperation against their mutual enemy, the British, thanks in no small part to Benjamin Franklin's tireless diplomatic efforts.

This form, a receipt for American privateers to declare legal ownership over a prize steered into a French port, includes blank spaces in the text for a captain or shipowner to record important information about the captured ship. It is typical of much of the output of Franklin's press at Passy, which acted as an arm of the United States Government abroad, printing official proclamations and legal documents such as this. Franklin only printed a limited number of items in small quantities at Passy, so all extant printing from this press is scarce and notable.

Just two copies of this document have been sold at auction in the last fifty years per Rare Book Hub.

REFERENCES

Grolier/Livingston, Franklin and His Press at Passy 24